The red-necked longhorn beetle (Aromia bungii) is a pest native in China, Taiwan, Korean peninsula and northern Vietnam, and damages trees, including cherry, persimmon, olive, peach, Japanese apricot, pomegranate and willow. It has recently invaded areas of Japan, and has damaged a number of cherry trees. A total damage is estimated to be 22 billion yen if the red-necked longhorn beetle spreads throughout Japan. Currently, the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism are trying to eliminate the red-necked longhorn beetle, but any effective control method has not been established yet. Meanwhile, control of the pest and surveillance on emergence of the pest with an aggregation pheromone are attracting attention, and a large hope is placed on its use.
Xu et al identify the aggregation pheromone of the red-necked longhorn beetle (Aromia bungii) as (2E)-cis-6,7-epoxy-2-nonenal (Non-Patent Literature 1). Mori reports that (2E)-cis-6,7-epoxy-2-nonenal can be synthesized by a process comprising epoxidation of 2-penten-1-ol to form 2,3-epoxy-1-pentanol, conversion of the latter into a triflate form, a coupling with an allyl Grignard reagent, and an olefin cross metathesis with 2-butenal (Non-Patent Literature 2).